Analog Engineers: Too Few or Too Many?

Some say technology advancements are obsoleting the need for analog engineers, while others say that good, experienced analog designers will always be needed and currently are in short supply.

Are the glory days of analog engineering over? Some think so.
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After years spent encouraging engineering students to focus on software and digital electronics, some people say the day of reckoning appears to be drawing near: Many analog mixed-signal design jobs now stay open longer or are simply going unfilled, say recruiters, with some engineers even unable to retire because they can't find a suitable replacement.

On the one hand, some people blame the shift from analog to digital, which produced a generation of engineers who speak the language of code, not circuit schematics. On the other hand, others say that with the advent of systems-on-chip, the easy availability of free circuits, pioneered by companies like TSMC, and software tools to verify designs, there is simply less need for analog designers.

Analog's glory days over? "I would love to get five or more years in where I can contribute, but it's over," says Edison Fong, who was let go in 2009 from his job as principal analog designer at National Semiconductor. He did a two-year stint at a startup that was sold to Microsoft and then took a job as a systems payload engineer, which he describes as, "The worst job I ever had. They had us going 80 hours a week until they offered 'early retirement.' "

For the past 18 months, he's been teaching circuit design classes at UC Santa Cruz, doing some selective consulting, and collecting money from some antenna patents. He feels he's better off than some of his friends, who have either been forced to exit the field entirely or commute a horrendous distance to jobs in places like China.

Yet at the same time, open positions for analog engineers are going begging here in North America; that is, for engineers with both digital and analog experience and working at the device level.

"Our customers would hire an 80-year-old analog engineer if she had the right skill set," says Brian Kennedy, only partly joking. Kennedy is the customer relation lead for the GaN on SiC (gallium nitride on silicon carbide) program at the National Research Council of Canada. Healthcare here, incidentally, is free.

Kennedy, who works with startups and multinationals in all verticals that are creating custom wafers on advanced semiconductor materials, says that experienced analog designers with hands-on experience at the wafer level are worth their weight in gold.

"I have seen industry pay top dollar for these highly specialized skills and believe me this is knowledge that analog engineers acquired the hard way, by slogging away in the trenches learning what's basically a black art," says Kennedy. He notes that a good designer at the device design level can make as much as $50k to $250k per custom chip.

But having experience at the wafer level and working with mixed signals requires skills in both digital and analog -- not something that all experienced analog designers possess.

Glen Chenier is an analog engineer who has spent his entire career bouncing around corporations of every type, at one time in strong demand for his skills designing discrete logic. "But nowadays when you are looking for work, the people doing the hiring are talking about mixed signal and doing everything on silicon," says Chenier.

In his career, he says he has never worked at the device level. "When you work for big companies, you tend to get slotted. They don't move you around, and nobody cross trains," says Chenier.

Chenier has moved twice in his career, each time for an analog position that eventually evaporated. Settled in Dallas, he doesn't wish to uproot yet again for a job that would lay him off in five years. And jobs for analog engineers aren't plentiful in his area.

After a long stint of unemployment, he finally landed a full-time job doing reverse engineering for a company that repairs legacy telecom equipment.

"It's the perfect job. Having a strong background in circuit design, I can look at someone else's design and sniff out all the connections, deduce the functions, and reproduce the drawings," he says.

The only drawback? The job pays less than half the money he used to make as an analog design engineer.

Yet demand -- and salaries -- for good analog engineers with mix-signal experience continues apace. Henry Wintz, solutions manager for the embedded industry practice at Ranstad Technologies, an engineering and employment hiring services firm, says that the number of positions for mixed signal engineers is up 300% compared to only a few years ago, and that pay rates are definitely escalating.

WIntz estimates that the typical time needed to fill an analog/mixed signal position is much longer today than it is for embedded software developers. "Within the first 24 hours that an embedded position is open, we easily have three to five candidates identified as a potential fit for the role. But with mixed signal design, it may be two to three days to identify even one qualified person," he explains.

Part of the reason for the delay is the relatively small pool of qualified candidates and the fact that the skill set required has become much more niched, says Wintz. "From what I see, I'd estimate only about one in 45 engineers might actually be qualified for one of these positions," he adds.

A challenge with mixed-signal design in particular, he says, is that while an engineer with five years of experience could possibly do the job, it would involve working side-by-side with a very senior analog engineer to get the rich analog knowledge needed to understand the small nuances of a design.

I had considered making the transition but didn't pursue it. From a technical perspective, it's possible. The problem is that if you're paid as a senior digital engineer, you need to start from the bottom as a junior analog engineer -- no one wants to pay you at a senior level. There are some logical transition paths: do mixed signal verification or digital calibration circuits. The bigger question is if you actually want to do this. (I didn't -- while interesting, the semi sector sucks as an employee!)

By the way, having a digital background could be useful. Analog designers tend to have no ability to program or script which could make a designer much more productive. And, they could expand the solution domain to include small calibration circuits which are trivial for digital designers to implement.

@@k@sh: "Other option is start from digital hoping for switch later" - analog engineers, is that possible that you could start with digital and morph into analog later?

It happened that way in my career to some extent. I was never hoping for the transition, but circumstances have moved me into more analog design. I would certainly not put down "analog engineer" on any job application, but I have seen some success on small analog projects and often have this overlap between analog and digital.

Typically I am an analog app-note designer. I start with an app note and move on from there.

Perhaps our friend here is fortunate enough to not have experienced what many others have.

Here in Canada I have worked for BIG internationals and small start ups. The BIG organizations keep you in the "pigeon" hole by force, implied or direct. Any attempt to cross train (your own time or company time) is considered insubordination and a sign of unrest. These are the same companies that pay lip service to the language of, "training", "professional development", and another big one is, "think outside of the box", but reality is very different. What they really mean is, keep doing your work; don't think so far outside of the box that you burst the wall of the box; you can push a little, but only VERY little on that wall. Movement within the organization or suggesting small reshuffling of responsibilities amongst your colleagues is also highly dangerous. Don't think, don't ask questions, just stay put (in your box) and deliver what is needed. NO discussion.

Secondly, if you are over about 35 years of age, you are finished. By that time you have either been over worked, and thus burned out, or, you are now perceived as a threat because you have energy left and they have discovered that you actually can think for yourself (not being a blind company man) and thus you do understand how the company (system) works. In either case you are no longer malleable (as a freshly minted graduate would be) and original thought is deemed dangerous to the company.

The small companies do want you to conduct, "professional development", but not on their time, and not in the portion of the day that they demand as overtime.

In either case, learning new ways of working (developing yourself) must be done quietly, on your own time.

Then comes the issue of applying what you have learned once you have gained some proficiency. How do you show on a resume legitimate work experience if you can't apply it where you presently work? The ONLY thing is to start your own business on the side. Lets face it, how often do you tell yourself that you may not develop professionally and apply it when it benefits your own bottom line?

So, with regard to the the question of too few or too many analog engineers; my experience is, plenty are willing, but only the young malleable few a tolerated for a while.

@kfield: Really speaking even I am finding answer to that question. But better to start career in something instead waiting for exact match for analog "transistor level design". One poosible field to later morph into I see is high-speed interfaces, memory control circuitry, etc.

Sometimes pool may appear smaller when analog enthusiast in pool ignored due to lack of experience.

One way to get experience is PhD, but then research guy finds professorship to be much better option than industry where his design delivery time will always be compared to faster design cycle in digital

Other option is start from digital hoping for switch later. But once in digital domain, they get attached to aura of working on leading edge node & ease of autmated design.

Agreed, re: reuse of IP and no one designing a new RF chip. Look at last week's announcement of Broadcom planning to exit the baseband industry. That means fewer RF and mixed-signal jobs in the industry.

At the last company I was with the analog designers were afraid of a "super" A/D that just samples the antenna and does everything else with DSP. I'm not sure how feasible it is power-wise, but people definitely want it, since digital scales with Moore's law and analog doesn't.

There will be some hotspots where people make lots of money, but nothing to make a 30 year career out of.

I don't see lot of design work in Analog. Most of it now is modifications. Plus the analog IP reduce the need of too many analog designers. No body designs a new RF chip now. Only when a new standard comes. But getting good analog designers is difficult. The real desiign engineers. Otherwise there are many.

My last supervisor is a world class power supply designer (along with lots of basic analog knowledge). 5 years ago (at age 67) he left our place to retire. Since then he has been working two jobs, making far more than he ever made with us and loving every minute. He could have as many projects as he can handle.

@kcarreon You're in an ideal situation, suck up as much knowledge as you can from those experienced analog designers and keep in mind the guys who can make $50 to $250k doing a design in advanced materials. And I think "artisinal circuits" are the next big trend.